One Day at a Time
by Aisu137
Summary: Tatsumi is a once popular teenager slowly dying of cancer. Esdeath is a teenager who lived her whole life alone with a case of undiagnosed schizophrenia. Tatsumi has support from his friends and family, Esdeath has no one. Yet somehow, Tatsumi can't help but relate to her. How are they going to make this work if Tatsumi's only got another few months to live?
1. Chapter 1

Intro -

A modern AU of Akame ga Kill. Tatsumi has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer which one is something I will reveal eventually. Before being diagnosed, he had the perfect life with a few exceptions. Watch, or rather read, as he comes to terms with his imminent death and realize he's hopelessly in love with a fellow patient at the hospital he makes his home at while he steps on a few toes along the way.

Featuring - Tatsumi, Esdeath, Run, Wave, Akame, Kurome, Seryu, Leone (minor appearances), and various other patients.

Pairings - Tatsumi x Esdeath; Wave x Kurome; Run x Leone (minor);

Ratings - T (mentions of depression, self-harm)

* * *

Three months ago, if you had asked me what I was going to do the next day, I wouldn't be able to tell you. Three months ago, I had everything planned. Three months ago, I was living. Now I'm just another empty shell paying for an expensive hotel waiting to die.

Up until recently, well, more specifically, three months ago, I had been a junior at Empire High. My school life was acceptable, even great. I was one of the key figures to the fencing team and had a fantastic girlfriend. I spent my days stopping fights between two warring sisters and spending time with my best friend and brother in all but blood. But these days all I do is spend my time laying in bed, watching as the rigid muscles of my arms and legs fade away.

These days, all I do is stare at the pastel, white colored walls and the bleak sky out the window. These days, the highlight of my day is actually being able to stand without crutches or a wheelchair and look out the window. To see the little kids running outside in the park across the street. The first time I saw the park, I thought it was cute. There's nothing cuter than watching kids play tag or chase each other all over the equipment. By the fifth time I saw the happy kids, I wanted to run them through with my sword. Now, all I see is the city board's terrible planning.

I suppose I shouldn't be this bitter, I still have my friends. I'm told my best friend keeps an eye on the two sisters, ready to intervene if they decide to fight. They visit me daily, my girlfriend stays with me for hours at a time. They try, I think for my sake as much as for their own, to keep things the way they used to be. But when they leave, they take the happy atmosphere with them. They leave me alone in the white room listening to the sounds of the heart monitor.

I was almost seventeen when I found out, just got my license, and boy was I excited! I could finally ask a girl that I've been wanting to ask out for the past two years and pick her up at her house. I could take her to my favorite restaurant and show her all the cool nooks and crannies that I'd found over the years. I could go out with Wave after practice and rant to him just how unfair our lives were.

I wish I had found out differently. I wish it had been that I angered the two sisters and they had stabbed me with their scary katanas and they had to rush me to hospital. Or maybe if I had found out when I was at a doctor's appointment, and to keep their records up to date, they had needed to do an x-ray. But no, I had to find out in the hospital after waking up after two days to find out that I had gotten in a car crash. The car crash was in no way my fault as the other guy had ran a red light and t-boned me. The damage was done though, I had survived the crash with two broken ribs and a major concussion (amongst other injuries). My brother in all but blood, Bulat, had not been so lucky. The doctor in charge, said that it had happened to quickly, and that Bulat had not felt any pain before he died.

I remember yelling at the doctor who took it calmly understanding the grief I was going through. Then he placed two sheets of paper in front of me. Like the rest of this sickening place, the pages were pristine and orderly. I remember picking them up and reading that I had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and that was my life expectancy was six months.

I remember Akame and Kurome rushing into my room seconds after the doctor left. Akame had told me that they both found out while I was asleep. They told me that Bulat's funeral was in four days. I felt myself nod before quietly asking them to leave. Kurome had left me her infamous snack bag before Akame placed a hand on her shoulder and gently led her little sister out of the room and back home. No one else visited me that day, I think the sisters told the others not to. I knew there was a reason I liked them, they understood loss more than anyone else.

Four days after I woke up, I went to the funeral. I haven't been able to leave the hospital since.

I was jarred from my thoughts when there was a knock at the door, "Tatsumi, may I come in?"

 _Oh joy, the nurse is here. Probably here to tell me that he's here to arrange another chemo session. Not that it'll help._

"Of course, Run."

I liked Run, he was a polite man who had been assigned to taking care of me. Then again, how could you not like Run? He and his wife, Leone, ran a daycare for the hospital and always had a happy disposition about them. Run himself was kind and thoughtful, he always asked permission before he did something. Every hour, except if he was off, he visited bringing me the daily news, stories, and of course treatment plans. Sometimes he sneaked in a couple extra cookies or an extra pudding in my lunch.

Run entered the room and for a second, I thought I saw wings and a halo, but I must've been mistaken. Run only appeared angel-like, he wasn't actually an angel. Pity. He wore dark grey scrubs with a white jacket over top. He had explained to me that he was a licensed doctor, but decided to apply for a nursing as to accommodate Leone's desire to see him more. The hospital hadn't minded that he wore the jacket, as it was rightfully his.

"So Run," I began, "How much begging would it take to let me out?"

Run smiled slightly, "I'm not allowed to let you out. But after this session, I can promise you a new game for your 3DS."

"Wave got it?" I asked in excitement, my emerald green eyes lighting up in excitement. In response to my question, Run pulled out a single small square. I reached out in excitement but Run moved it slightly out of reach and settled it back into his pocket.

Run grinned and raised a finger, "Ah ah ah," He teased, "Wait until after I get this chemo started." He started the process of hooking up the chemo and I watched as it started to pump into my body. I felt the strange substance enter my body and shuddered. Even after three months, I was not used to this feeling.

The nurse, true to his word, grabbed my shiny blue 3DS from off of my bedside table, so I wouldn't have to reach over. He grabbed the matching blue case from within the draw of the bedside table and opened it up, "All charged, yeah?" He asked.

I nodded.

He took out the current game and popped in the new one in a practiced manner. He hummed to himself as he put case on my bed by my feet in case I wanted to switch it out.

Run handed over the device and I opened it up and pressed the power button. With my left hand I pressed one of the buttons on the side and watched as it opened up Pokemon - Omega Ruby. Since Wave and I were younger we had played Pokemon together. We had promised each other to continue this tradition till we graduated high school and even past high school if we chose to.

"Did he get Alpha Sapphire?"

Run nodded and said, "He has also told me to tell you that you are forbidden from transferring any of your old Pokemon over and from choosing Mudkip as your starter."

"Damn."

I pressed the B button repeatedly as I waited for the game to get past the boring introduction. I picked the male character and entered my name, Tatsumi in Romaji. Run watched in amusement before pulling out the timer in his other pocket and setting it to an hour. He informed me that he'd be back in an hour and that he expected me to have beaten the first gym by then. I had raised a hand and waved him out to which he laughed before closing the door to my room quietly behind him.

I had ended up choosing Torchic as my starter, but I quickly added a male Ralts (after much searching) and a male Seedot. I would need these two if I wanted to beat Wave in a battle next time I saw him. When Run re-entered the room, he had unplugged the chemo from my arm and several of my friends had walked into the room.

I looked up from my game and saw Akame and Kurome bickering, no surprise there. I noticed Wave rushing into the room with his own red 3DS looking quite excited. He had asked if I had beaten the first gym, and when I told him I did, he got even more excited. He was about to challenge me to a battle when Akame's voice interrupted.

"Little sister," Akame's voice was full of a warning and promises of punishment if Kurome didn't drop it.

"I can drop out of biology if I want to, and you can't do anything about it!"

The red-eyed older sister raised a single eyebrow in skepticism, "Tatsumi," she called bringing me into the conversation, "Am I Kurome's guardian?"

"Yes?" It came out as more of a question.

"As guardian, am I allowed to speak as a parent in most matters?"

"Yes?"

"Kurome, you are not dropping out of biology." Akame said firmly her tone radiating authority.

The sisters stayed for about half an hour before they went out to eat. Kurome grudgingly agreeing to going to a new barbecue place that opened near their small apartment. Wave stayed behind and once the sisters were out of earshot, he challenged me to a battle. I am saddened to say that he won. Stupid Seedot didn't know anything except for Bide. Wave said turned to leave when i called for him to stop.

"Where's Mein?" I asked referring to my beautiful girlfriend.

Wave paused at the door and bit his lower lip, "She's applying for colleges."

"That's great!"

"Out of state."

"O-oh." I whispered in shock. Mein wouldn't be able to visit me. With that Wave bid me goodnight and promised he'd be back tomorrow, at the same time. He said he expected me to have beaten the game.

For the fifth night in a row, I cried myself to sleep.

* * *

Just a little something that I've been cooking up. My other stories are not on hold, but I did want to see how this goes. Let me know what you think. I'm also open to a beta reader, if anyone is interested. If you are, please PM as soon as humanly possible.


	2. Chapter 2

Intro -

A modern AU of Akame ga Kill. Tatsumi has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer which one is something I will reveal eventually. Before being diagnosed, he had the perfect life with a few exceptions. Watch, or rather read, as he comes to terms with his imminent death and realize he's hopelessly in love with a fellow patient at the hospital he makes his home at while he steps on a few toes along the way.

Featuring - Tatsumi, Esdeath, Run, Wave, Akame, Kurome, Seryu, Leone (minor appearances), and various other patients.

Pairings - Tatsumi x Esdeath; Wave x Kurome; Run x Leone (minor);

Ratings - T (mentions of depression, self-harm)

* * *

I'd have to say the highlight of my miserable time here has to be the few times a week where I get to leave my room and head over to the common area. There were always different people there every week as some became too sick to come and others got better, and of course there were always those that died in between. Most days Run gave him the stamp of approval to go, but some days were classified as 'bad' days and I wasn't allowed to have any visitors.

"Well Tatsumi," Run proclaimed, "I have good news and some not good news."

"The not so good news first," I requested, Run always gave me two options.

"Well..." There was a pause, "You're not going to the common area today."

"What?!" I exclaimed in anger, "My health is no worse than usual."

Run held up a placating hand, "One of my fellow nurses wants to try an experiment."

"That's wonderful!" I barked sarcastically, crossing my arms over my chest like a petulant child.

"Tatsumi..." the voice was full of warning, "There is a girl, around your age who has an extreme case of schizophrenia. She's obsessed-"

"I don't give a damn what's she's obsessed with!" I snarled, "Just because she has a problem doesn't mean her problem is my problem."

Run frowned for a few moments, before his eyes narrowed, "Very well. I never took you for such a naive child." He left the room closing the door quietly behind him.

I growled angrily before snatching the red 3DS off of the table next to me and opened it up. I had just beaten the twin gym leaders, my Aegislash easily tearing through the Sun and Moon Pokemon with no problems. I grinned as I captured the legendary Pokemon, Groundon. All of a sudden the screen went black signaling that the 3DS died.

"Damn it!" I shouted and tossed the thing angrily at the foot of the bed.

"Is this a bad time?" In my anger I had completely missed someone knocking on the door to my room.

"Mein?" I called my anger being replaced by excitement, "Come on in!" I sat up a bit straighter on the uncomfortable hospital bed.

"Straighten up your attitude, I heard what happened with Run." She placed one hand on her pink dress and another was pointed angrily at me.

"You don't-"

"Tatsumi shut up!" She snapped in anger her air flying around her, she took a deep breath in effort to calm herself before continuing, "Run has been nothing but kind, understanding, and supportive of you while you've been here. He has asked nothing of you in return. The _one_ time he asks a favor of you, you snap at him and kick him out of your room. I am beyond disappointed in you. Bulat would be ashamed of you."

"I know.." I trailed off before looking down in embarrassment and shame.

"When Run returns in," she glanced at the pink watch on her wrist, "Twenty minutes, I want you to apologize. Furthermore, I want you to meet with this woman. She obviously needs help."

"But I have a game to play!" I protested.

"And I have college applications to fill out and scholarships to apply for," Mein replied, "I still took the time to visit my boyfriend."

Mein was a genius sniper, as she always so humbly put it, and there were many different colleges and university that had begged her over the years if she would consider going to their school once she graduated high school.

She finally sighed and moved closer to my bed and gently kissed me, "You stubborn boy," She said affectionately ruffling my hair, "I'll leave you to your game, but you might want to charge the console first. Which gives you the perfect amount of time to call Run in here and agree to meet this fellow patient of yours."

She gave me no room to disagree as she waltzed out of the room but not before she pressed the bottom that would call the nurse, "Goodbye Tatsumi, Wave said he'll be by later. Akame and Kurome might come as well." She hesitated slightly, "Make sure to answer Akame's questions honestly. And don't be too hard on them."

Run smiled cheerfully as he entered the room seconds after Mein had left, in front of him was an empty wheel chair, "Glad you changed your mind!"

"I hate you," I grumbled as I pulled myself into the wheelchair.

The angel like man wheeled me past the community area where I saw Ieyasu talking with Sayo. Sayo was nearly tortured to death by a psychotic maniac and Ieyasu was drugged and infected with several different drug related diseases. Despite most of Sayo's injuries being physical, many of them had been infected when she was brought in. As a result of this, her immune system had given up trying to keep her alive. They are both expected to die within the year.

I noticed Kurome and Akame, strangely enough, sitting not too far off along with several other kids around the same age. I knew that had been in a bad place earlier, but I never seen them at the hospital other than the times they came to visit me.

"Why are Kurome and Akame here?" I asked looking up a Run who was humming slightly.

He glanced over at them and then to the kids they were with, "They never told you?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Tell me what?"

"Interesting," He said thoughtfully, I could almost see him tapping his chin in contemplation, "I'll let them tell you. Don't judge them too harshly."

I frowned, "Mein said something similar."

Run said nothing in response as he continued to follow the blue lines on the wall to a different section of the hospital, "Well here we are!" He had wheeled me to a sort of empty zone of the hospital, one I had surprisingly never been to. I had thought Wave had shown me the entire place,

"I'll just be over here," Run said and pointed to the desk. Before he walked over to the desk he placed a pad of line paper in front of me as well as two pens and set of colored pencils. Run sat down at the desk and began to do his paperwork, like he was over at this side often.

I glanced around to take in my surroundings. There were no other doors that looked like they could be opened as as they all had locks on them and the only entrance and exit to the small waiting room was the hallway I had just come from. There were a few chairs scattered around the area which meant that it was a remodeled waiting room. Unlike the rest of this hospital, everything was a light shade of blue, but it looked sloppily painted. In some areas it was darker where more than one coat of paint was applied and in others there wasn't any paint at all.

I looked down at the pad of paper curious as to what Run wanted me to do with it. I did know how to make a paper origami ninja star. So to kill time I tore off a piece of that yellow paper and began making my ninja star. As I was about halfway done, a voice made my heart stop beating for a moment.

"Why are you here and who are you?" The voice hissed behind me sending a chill down my spine.

"I was brought here," my green eyes flashed darkly, "Who are you?"

"Now now," There was a new nurse, one I vaguely remembered Run mentioning. He put a hand calmly on the new girl's shoulders and gently eased her into the chair, "Esdeath, this is Tatsumi."

"He is weak." Esdeath spat angrily.

"I am _not_ weak!"

* * *

Thought, comments, speculations, questions, concerns? Leave them below in the reviews.


	3. Chapter 3

Intro -

A modern AU of Akame ga Kill.

Tatsumi has recently diagnosed with terminal cancer. Before being diagnosed, he had the perfect life with only a few exceptions. Watch, or rather read, as he comes to terms with his imminent death and realize that he's hopelessly in love with a fellow patient at the hospital that has become his new home.

Featuring - Tatsumi, Esdeath, Akame, Kurome, Wave, Seryu, Run, Leone (minor), and various other patients.

Pairings - Tatsumi x Esdeath; Wave x Kurome; Run x Leone

Ratings - T (depression, self-harm, honestly he's dying of cancer)

* * *

 _I am not weak!.._

"I'm not weak you psycho," I screamed in outrage, _How dare she! She's just insane, it's not like she's dying._

"You can't even get out of that chair," Esdeath shot back, a superior curl to her lip, "The voices said so."

"Look lady," I began as I struggled to my feet, "I don't know you and quite frankly, I don't care to, but my nurse told me to do this and damn it! I will."

"Loyalty." She scoffed, "How pathetic, relying on another. Your nurse is just as weak as _you_ are."

I tried to launch myself across the table at the blue-haired woman who grinned in response, "Can't even make it across the table!"

She laughed and turned around.

"Esdeath." Run said calmly, "Sit. Down."

Esdeath flinched and stared at him, "You're here to stop me, aren't you?" She almost seemed to whimper as she clasped her hands over her ears, "Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!"

Another nurse who stood near Esdeath frowned and strode forward a blue pill held out in front him. The blue-haired woman launched herself at the pill and swallowed it dry before collapsing to the floor hugging her knees to her chest.

"Weak. Worthless. Waste of space. Pathetic. Failure." She whispered to herself over and over like a mantra, "I'm weak, I'm worthless, I'm a waste of space, I'm pathetic, I'm a failure."

The nurse, who had navy hair similar to Wave's and a bulky jacket covering his nurse outfit reached over and gently rubbed her back and whispered words of assurance, "You're not weak, you're not worthless, you are not a waste of space, you are not pathetic, _you are not a failure_." He met Run's eyes and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Come on, Tatsumi," Run murmured as he eased me into my wheel chair, beads of sweat ran down my face from the effort it took to stand, "Let's go back to your Pokemon, I want you to introduce me to all your new creatures. Tell me about your progress."

He rolled me out of the white room and down white halls with white tile. Past the community area where Sayo and Ieyasu were still playing Monopoly (Sayo was winning), past Kurome who was talking to some white-blond haired boy with startling blue eyes, and past Akame who raised her eyes to meet mine and winced before subtly shaking her head and mouthing the word later. Nodding acceptingly, I didn't ask Run to stop and continued to allow myself to be pushed past the area and into the quiet, white loneliness of my room.

"Run," I hesitated, "What just happened?"

"Esdeath," he began before sighing, "Her mother in childbirth and her father was an immigrant from Mongolia. In Mongolia, there's this belief that the strong survive and the weak die off. Esdeath moved here when she was young and for a time, she and her father were happy together. However, when Esdeath turned twelve, her father was hit by a car and died in a hospital near where they lived. His last words to her were 'I am weak, you are strong.'"

"That doesn't sound so bad," I said slowly.

"True, but schizophrenia doesn't really present itself till 16, so Esdeath was fine for awhile. She was tossed into the foster program and moved around a few times, but when she turned 14 the delusions started to kick in. Her foster mom at the time thought it was normal behavior. After all, many signs of schizophrenia can be hard to deduce seeing as most teens go through it."

"So schizophrenia is.. hard to diagnose in teens, but why?"

"Mostly because the signs are as follows: irritability, drop in grades, social withdrawal, and difficulty concentrating are some of the few symptoms. As a teen yourself, you can understand a few of them." Run said pointedly.

I rubbed the back of my head, "Yeah... my last report wasn't, well, the _best._ There's room for improvement."

"Room for improvement." Run repeated, "You had two D's and an F. Your best grade was a low B. Yes, _improvement._ Either way, Esdeath was diagnosed two years later but by then the mantra of her being weak had, ah, set in. Anti-psychosis drugs do help a bit, but she also needs to learn how to re-engage with society. As far as she's concerned, the only things in the world worth listening to are the voices in her head."

"And what can I do to help?" I asked, I only had three months to live, might as well do something to try to repay Run for everything.

"Well for starters you can try to more understanding and patient with her. Realize that not everything she says is actually her talking. I've heard from Susanoo tha-" Run was cut off by a knock at the door.

"May we come in?" A flat voice asked through the fake oak door.

"Certainly," Run replied as he opened the door with his usual smile and happy wave.

In walked Akame and Kurome, along with a few kids trailing behind them.

"So this is the dead guy?" One boy asked, roughly Akame's age as he pushed his glasses up, the emerald on his necklace glinted in the light.

"Enough Green," another boy said. This one had golden eyes, a white trench coat (does everyone wear trench coats around here?) with strange golden epaulets, and an almost feral smile set on his face.

"Sorry, Chief!" Green responded.

"Enough, both of you." Akame snapped, "We came here to explain not for you to insult our friend."

"It's not like you owe him anything," the blond boy behind Kurome said, crossing his arms over his white trench coat, a blue and green checkered scarf around his neck.

"Exactly!" Green said immediately, "Thanks Natara. He isn't one of us, he doesn't deserve to know."

Run who was silent through this entire exchange raised an eyebrow, "Now now, all of you. Behave or I'll fetch Gozuki and have him escort you out. Gin and Poney, make sure they mind their manners if they're to talk with my patient."

Two girls, one with long silver hair that hung back in a long ponytail and a sleeveless top and the other with green eyes and auburn hair that was also hung up in a ponytail with assorted hair clips tossed in, gave a quick, crisp salute, "Yes sir!"

The angel-like man sighed, "You guys aren't- Never mind. Tatsumi, I'll be back in a few hours for your chemo. Remember to save your game as you go."

I frowned at Akame and Kruome, "So what's up? Mein said to be open minded and to answer your questions honestly."

"How do I start this?" Akame wondered aloud before Kurome shot in.

"I'm going through a detox from highly addictive, body damaging, mind destroying steroids. Oh by the way, I've tried to kill Akame twice now. How's your day been Tatsumi?"

"What." I asked in utter confusion.

"Let me start from the beginning," Akame sighed. "When we were children..."

* * *

Oh boy, let me just start off with an apology. I should be starting to write a bit more as my time eases up, but no promises. This chapter didn't have any heart wrenching stuff in it but you got a look into Eseath's.. problem. Next chapter should contain a bunch of info on Tatsumi and Kurome/Akame. I promise, there is a point to them and their story (the Elite Seven-ish).

In other news.. leave reviews, favorite and follow and all that jazz. until next time.


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